An exhibition on Tibet opened at a bookstore in central Taipei yesterday, highlighting human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party in the region.
The exhibition at To-uat Books in Zhongzheng District (中正) features charcoal sketches by Tung Ching-jung (董靜蓉), depicting Tibetan leaders and human rights advocates, including the Dalai Lama; Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a Tibetan monk who died in a Chinese jail; and Hollywood actor Richard Gere, who has for years been outspoken about his support for Tibet.
Tung, who is a member of the Students for a Free Tibet-Taiwan, said that China systematically oppresses Tibetans and denies them access to education about their own language and culture.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
She said that a Tibetan friend once told her: “I don’t want to be forced to become Chinese, I just want to be Tibetan.”
Tibetan government-in-exile representative to Taiwan Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa expressed his gratitude to Taiwanese for paying attention to the Tibet issue.
China’s oppression of Tibetans is based on destroying their culture and closing local schools in which students can learn about their own background, he said.
Tibetans have been imprisoned for speaking their language or beaten to death for having a photograph of the Dalai Lama on their mobile phone, he said, calling the measures “genocide.”
The exhibition, hosted by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan, and Students for a Free Tibet-Taiwan, is to run until Oct. 9.
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